Walk the Line
by A Spy A Sword A Pen
Summary: Both Hermione Granger and Severus Snape walk precariously thin lines. They could help each other, but are they too stubborn and set in their ways to see or care? HG/SS, Spies, Romance, Ron Bashing and more. Full summary inside


Hello everyone! This is my first FanFiction, adn I have a couple other stories to offer. I also write on FictionPress as Camorie Crestman, or at least I will once I get my stories back up there, after taking them down for editing. You should check them out, they are about a wizarding school, but has nothing else in common with HP. I'll post before a chapter when they are back up. (Shameless sales pitch I realise.)  
I never thought I would be here writing FanFiction, but it shoudl be easier because the world and characters already exist. I just get to play with and modify them for awhile. By the way, updates will most likely be pretty infrequent, sooo...  
**Disclaimer:** Although I wish that I was the owner of HP, so that I could change things to suit my purposes, I do not. JKR does, and she killed off all my favourite characters or married them off to idiots!! Regardless, I will be playing with them here.

Summary: Both Hermione Granger and Severus Snape walk precariously thin lines. They could help each other, but are they too stubborn and set in their ways to see or care?

And without further ado I will begin:

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~Walk the Line~

~Chapter 1~

Hermione Granger turned a corner in the darkened hallway. Her footsteps were silent and she masterfully stuck to the shadows, gliding by unseen. Her strides were long and fast, as she roamed the corridors of the castle looking wayward students. It was doubtful that anyone was up at this hour, and logic told Hermione that she should go to bed as well. Logic though, wouldn't win over the knowledge that nightmares and insomnia awaited her in her quarters.

As she turned another corner, she was suddenly aware that she wasn't alone. Whether it was an errant noise, movement in her peripheral vision, or gut instinct, she knew to trust the knowledge. Without stopping or changing her pace, she palmed her wand and mapped a way to the nearest hiding spot. Her destination in mind, she turned left at the nearest crossroads and ducked into the niche to await her pursuer.

The figure passed as expected, but as she stepped out of the hollow, wand pointed unobtrusively, the figure turned on her wand up. The figure's wand lit up in a silent _'Lumos'_, and he sneered down at her, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Hermione, though surprised to see who the figure was, gave no show of it.

Professor Snape, in turn, looked at her and ordered, "Wand down, Miss Granger. Just because you are a prefect, Gryffindor's princess, and best friend to the-boy-who-can't-not-be-a-pain-in-my-arse-and-just-die, doesn't mean that you deserve special treatment. Just what _are_ you doing up?" His silky voice demanded answers.

Hermione mentally rolled her eyes, _'It's the same old insults. He needs to be more creative.' _Shrugging, she put away her wand and answered him, "I was patrolling, sir."

He looked at her like he didn't believe her. "At four am? With your wand out? And your shadow skulking? Do I look like an idiot, Miss Granger?"

"Of course not, Professor Snape. I hadn't known who you were, sir. My wand was out in case you were a threat or Peeves. I'm up because I suffer from insomnia, sir, and I figured I would put myself to good use. Please don't criticize the way I walk; you are no better. Please take no offense, but why are you up, sir? Don't you have classes to teach in the morning?"

His scowl deepened, "Just as you have classes to _attend_ in the morning, and whereas I am an adult, you are a child. Go to your common room, Miss Granger, and twenty-five points from Gryffindor, for being out past curfew."

"Not to be rude, sir, but it is well after midnight. I'm not out past curfew, per say, just up early. I'm always up this late Professor, and no one has noticed. Of course that could have to do with the fact that I normally head in earlier and read. I also always function properly in class." She was musing by the end of her triad.

"Make that two weeks of detention for cheek and another fifty points from Gryffindor. The detentions are a eight pm sharp, my class, starting tomorrow. Now go to your common room!" He glared at his student once more.

She started to walk away, but threw over her shoulder, "I assume that you want me to stay in my room, sleeping until morning right? Not just heading into my common room and leaving or staying up." She smirked and continued on to Gryffindor common room.

As he watched her retreat, he noticed the way that she slipped into the shadows, and moved silently. If he hadn't been a spy he might not have noticed her. He mused over her parting words, _'Most don't notice that I leave room to interpret my words. Other than my Slytherins, students are too frightened of me to do anything._

'_She must also have an acute sense of hearing to have noticed my approach, and she is almost as quiet as me. In all of my years, I would never have imagined know-it-all Granger to as silent, stealthy and aware as me. I'll need to keep an eye on her… She seems almost Slytherin in her mannerisms, and one doesn't get good at shadow skulking without practice and a teacher… _

'_What am I thinking! The girl was sorted into Gryffindor and is part of the Golden Trio… But there __**was **__a long pause during her sorting… Ah! Severus get your mind off the girl! What do you care anyway? Good question… Why do I care?' _He put it out of his mind and continued to look for students he knew wouldn't be up at this hour, fighting his own insomnia.

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When Hermione woke up in the morning, the bed sheets were tangled, her hair matted, her face sweaty, and adrenaline was rushing through her veins. Sighing, she _'Scorgified'_ and made her bed sheets. She then went to shower before her dorm mates awoke.

After she showered, she changed into her school robes with black yoga pants, and a green shirt on underneath. With a simple charm, she braided her hair, brushed her teeth, and was out of the bathroom just as her year mates were waking.

She went to her bed that was against the wall to allow her a perfect view of everyone in the room and anyone entering. Sitting on her bed she grabbed her books, parchment and quills, shrunk them, and put them in her robe pockets.

Checking that no one was looking, she grabbed two of her knives. One she hid in the sleeve of her robes. The other was hanging, sheathed on a belt, from her waist.

Hermione checked that she wasn't missing anything and left her dorm to get breakfast. As she walked down the nearly deserted staircases that led from Gryffindor common room to the Great Hall, she stayed silent, her thoughts on the potions professor and the way she had acted last night. She was a bit worried that he noticed her, but decided not to dwell on the fact and instead smirked at the look on the teacher's face at her parting words.

Entering the Great Hall, her mind automatically cataloged who was in the room- 13 Slytherins, 8 Hufflepuffs, 4 Ravenclaws, 3 Gryffindors, and 5 teachers: Dumbledore, Hooch, Vector, Sprout, and Snape. The former, she noted was sitting against the wall in the shadow, watchful eyes on the people in the room, and the door.

As she was taking note of all of this, his head rose, his eyes met hers, and a strange expression crossed his face, but was gone before she could decipher it. If it was anyone else, she might have said it was curiosity and puzzlement.

She stored the information away for later, and inclined her head respectfully in his direction before sitting down at Gryffindor table to eat.

As she pulled over some oatmeal, Hermione surreptitiously cast a spell that would notify her of any student or teacher that entered the Great Hall. It was a spell of her own inventions and had taken her time to come up with, but very much worth it. She thought again, as she always did, that Professor Snape would find this spell useful if he didn't have one like it already.

Up at the high table, Professor Snape, was thinking about Miss Granger again. _'The chit is up already? Most people can't sleep for two hours and wake up before their peers._

'_Plus the girl was tallying who was here, and she may have thought that I had only caught her glancing at me, but she was mistaken._

'_Then she had cast that spell again.' _He still didn't know which one it was, but she cast it every time she sat down for a meal. _'What was she doing with it? What did it do?'_ Whatever it was wasn't hostile, but other than that, he didn't know; which proceeded to irritate him thoroughly. Scowling, he vowed to put the slip of a girl out of his mind.

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